There are several exciting initiatives taking place in the Johns Hopkins ambulatory setting to enhance care delivery. First, the Johns Hopkins Patient Access Process Improvement group has been promoting the use of Appointment Issue Tracker (AIT) to record issues related to the quality of scheduled appointments made by central scheduling. Benefits of AIT are:

Centralized platform to report appointment scheduling issues/errors

Tool to improve performance of scheduling and identify root cause of errors

Representatives from Access Services are working closely with the Department of Medicine divisions to improve the quality of care for patients but also to make the process work well for providers. Ongoing feedback from providers is essential to fine tune the endeavors. Secondly, several divisions will be trialling “Fast Pass” in the near future. This initiative is designed for patients on a “wait list” to receive an automated MyChart (or mobile phone message) to offer an earlier appointment in the event of cancellations. Those patients with active MyChart accounts and existing wait list entries that meet designated specifications would be eligible for the notification. This would help fill empty slots in the provider’s schedule for future clinic dates.